Maybe Square One Isn't the Worst Place to Start Over
by supernovacaine
Summary: He was back to square one, yes. He was broke, homeless, devoid of a workspace and his jazz music, but his son forgave him. And maybe square one wasn't the worst place to start over. / Aftermath of Taken / I do not own Lab Rats


**Yay! I'm back with a new one-shot! Catch Fire is kinda at a standstill right now; writer's block is literally clogging up the arteries of expression (comment if you get my reference). So I turned to one-shots to satisfy my writing needs. This one circles around Chase (like most of mine) and Douglas, just because I've always loved their relationship. It follows the events of Taken (the aftermath of that episode has always intrigued me). Warning: much fluff. Enjoy!**

Douglas was back to square one. No lab to work in, no car to live in, no power-hungry billionare to fund his work. But he supposed that his freedom from Krane should be regarded as a good thing. He would no longer have the menacing shadow of Krane's massive form looming critically over him as he worked. Then again, there really was nowhere to work, nor anything to work with, and definitley no up-tempo jazz to listen to while he did.

But he was free. Homeless, yes, but free.

And yet the shackles of his dark past seemed to feel as heavy as ever.

* * *

The door slammed satisfyingly as Chase left the house and stepped outside. The heated arguement had left him flushed and angry. He simply could not believe that after Douglas had saved their lives, Mr. Davenport would throw him onto the streets. His own brother, for God's sake! Sure, Douglas had done some terrible things, what with abducting them (twice), blowing up the lab, trying to control them with the Triton app, and giving Krane access to bionics, but hadn't his actions today made up for that?

Wind ruffled Chase's hair as he walked around the block, his hands buried deep in his pockets and his mind buried deep in thought. So deep in thought, in fact, that he almost didn't notice the figure with a mane of spiky hair to match his own sitting on Chase's favorite bench by the lamppost.

"Douglas?" he said incredulously.

Douglas shot up from the bench in shock. "Chase! Er, hi." He cleared his throat nervously. "I'm assuming you're here to take me back to Donald, presumably so that he can throw me in prison?"

Chase shook his head, sitting down on the bench. "I don't want you locked up. Actually, I thought it was wrong of Mr. Davenport to throw you out."

It was Douglas' turn to look incredulous. "Why?"

Shrugging, Chase replied, "Maybe you've done a lot of bad things, Douglas, but you've also saved my life, nearly at the cost of your own. Twice."

Douglas raised an eyebrow. "Twice?"

"Maybe you've forgotten about a certain avalanche, but I haven't. It was you who dug me out of the snow, remember? And maybe your intentions weren't that great-" -a wince from Douglas- "-but you still saved my life. You didn't give up on me, even when Adam and Bree did."

There was a pause as the gravity of what he had just said sunk in, and Chase quickly said, "I don't resent them for it; I know that if they had stayed any longer they would've been killed by the avalanche, but you were the one who stayed behind, who found me. And today, after you saved our lives, Krane almost killed you..."

"And he would have, if you hadn't jumped in," Douglas cut in. "What were you thinking, anyway? If you had been a second too late in putting up your force field, you would've been killed!"

"Think of it as returning the favor. The first time you saved my life, I trapped you in a cube of ice, which wasn't exactly a great way of saying thank you, but now half of my debt is payed off."

"I'm still waiting for the other half, though," Douglas joked.

Chase grinned. "Well I suppose you'll just have to get into some more life-threatening situations so I can save your sorry butt again."

They shared a laugh. Then silence hung in the air. Yet it wasn't awkward, like when Chase and Mr. Davenport were working together and had run out of science topics to discuss, but rather casual and friendly.

"And also," Chase said quietly. "You're our father. You proved that you were a good person, and I couldn't just stand there and watch you die. I knew that you deserved a second chance." A pause. "And you still do. I'll find a way to convince Mr. Davenport to let you stay with us."

"Thanks, Chase, but you've already stuck your neck out for me more than you need to. I'll be okay."

Chase nodded. "I know you will. But 'homeless' and 'okay' don't always exactly go hand in hand." He dug a piece of paper out from his pocket and scribbled down his phone number. "If you ever need anything, if you're ever in trouble, give me a call, and I can pay off that debt." He winked and stood up. "I should get going. I don't want them to get worried."

"Thank you." Douglas folded the paper and slipped it into his pocket. "And Chase?"

Chase looked at him.

"I'm sorry. For everything I've done. I'm sorry."

"I've long since forgiven you."

"Don't turn out like me, okay? Don't take your family for granted."

The ghost of a smile appeared on Chase's lips. "I won't."

* * *

It was as if someone had removed weights from Douglas' shoulders. His son forgave him. That was all that he had ever wanted; forgiveness. He was back to square one, yes. But maybe square one wasn't the worst place to start over.

 **A/N**

 **What did you guys think? This one was a lot of fluff, which I haven't done that much of. I hope you liked it. Please read and review!**

 **I will now rant, so skip to the end of the author's note if you don't care (you probably don't care, I just need to vent):**

 **Bionic Island. It's good. Maybe better than good. But it certainly isn't great, or spectacular. As much as I like it, I miss the old Lab Rats, when they were still at school, getting into wacky predicaments, breaking inventions, and struggling to keep their bionics a secret. Especially since they've grown so much, there's something about the old Lab Rats that Bionic Island is missing. There are a lot of things that I like about Bionic Island, for example, there's a lot more Adam/Chase and Lab Rats/Douglas bonding going on, but there's just the young, lighthearted element missing. In fact, ever since their bionic secret came out Lab Rats hasn't been the same. I liked it before; when they came up with hilariously ridiculous excuses for the weird things that happened when their bionics glitched. I hate to say it, but I kind of miss Trent and the football team and how Spike would always terrorize half the student body and staff and** _ **Principal**_ **Perry's regime of terror and Bree's boyfriend problems and Leo just screwing things up 24/7. Quite frankly, if they** _ **really**_ **needed the bionic secret to come out, I wish they had just ended it with season three. *ducks from rotten tomatoes*. Don't get me wrong, I love getting new episodes, I just don't love Bionic Island, and I wish that they had never made the secret come out until maybe the very end. I don't know how many of you share my frustration; maybe none of you feel the same way. I just have literally no actual friends/siblings that love Lab Rats like I do, so I'll rant about it to complete strangers on the internet.** **For those of you who sat through it: thank you for your time (which was probably wasted).**

 **Once again, thanks for reading, please review, and stay awesome!**

 **~nova (supernovacaine)**


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